Table of Contents
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The 4opens
The #4opens framework is best understood not as ideology or branding, but as a simple set of engineering heuristics for evaluating whether a project will remain usable, forkable, and resilient over time.
Most long-lived #FOSS projects already follow some version of these practices implicitly. The value of #4opens is making those assumptions explicit, so people can quickly understand how a project works, who controls it, and whether it will survive beyond its original maintainers or funding cycle.
In practical terms, the #4opens ask a few straightforward questions:
- Is the development process visible and reviewable?
- Are data formats and interfaces documented and reusable?
- Can someone else run this independently without permission?
- Are governance and decision-making transparent enough that forks remain viable if needed?
These aren’t abstract political goals, they’re lessons learned from decades of broken platforms, abandoned repositories, and “open” projects that centralised control.
For developers and sysadmins, applying the #4opens as a lightweight checklist helps reduce risk:
- Less lock-in to fragile ecosystems.
- Easier collaboration across projects.
- Better long-term maintainability.
- Clearer expectations for contributors and downstream users.
A shared registry or index based on these criteria functions much like early open source directories or package repositories - not as gatekeeping, but as a map. Projects could self-declare alignment and provide verifiable signals about openness, interoperability, and governance structure.
The goal isn’t purity tests or badges for their own sake. It’s about improving signal-to-noise so builders can quickly identify tools that are likely to remain open, portable, and maintainable.
In a landscape where systems drift toward centralisation and corporate capture, the #4opens simply provide a shorthand for practices that help keep the commons viable, without requiring anyone to agree on ideology.
The #dotcons can not be fixed.
The #fashionistas who keep flocking to new “ethical-ish” ones are a problem, not a solution. The #4opens framework provides a set of principles for testing, evaluating and promoting progressive social and tech projects. By adhering to these principles, people and communities support initiatives that prioritize openness, collaboration, and social good. Let's explore how each of the #4opens can be utilized.
- Open Data: Open data is the foundation of transparency and accountability in tech projects. By making data freely accessible and usable by anyone, projects can foster innovation, collaboration, and democratic decision-making. Progressive social and tech initiatives can leverage #opendata to empower communities, address social inequalities, and advance public interest goals. For example, open data can be used to track government spending, monitor environmental pollution, or analyze social trends.
- Open Source: Open source software is essential for fostering a healthy and vibrant tech ecosystem. By providing access to source code and encouraging collaborative development, #opensource projects can accelerate innovation, improve software quality, and promote digital autonomy. Progressive social and tech initiatives can utilize open source software to build tools and platforms that empower people and challenge corporate monopolies.
- Open "Industrial" Standards: Open industrial standards are critical for ensuring interoperability and compatibility across diverse tech systems. By adhering to #openstandards, projects can avoid vendor lock-in, promote diversity, and facilitate innovation. Progressive social and tech initiatives can advocate for and adopt open standards to build decentralized, resilient, and inclusive tech infrastructures. For example, #openstandards for communication protocols can enable peer-to-peer networks and decentralized social media platforms.
- Open Process: Open process refers to the transparent and participatory decision-making processes that govern tech projects. By involving stakeholders in project planning, development, and governance, open process fosters trust, accountability, and collective ownership. Progressive social and tech initiatives can embrace #openprocess by adopting democratic and inclusive decision-making structures, such as consensus-based decision-making or participatory budgeting. For example, open process can enable community-led initiatives, address social justice issues, and promote collective well-being.
In summary, the #4opens framework provides a roadmap for advancing progressive social and tech change and challenging the dominance of centralized, proprietary tech platforms. By prioritizing openness, collaboration, and social impact, individuals and communities can support initiatives that empower users to build a more equitable and democratic tech ecosystem.
The #4opens framework provides a set of criteria for evaluating and assessing the "Nativeness" of #openweb projects. By applying these criteria, individuals and communities can make informed judgments about the transparency, inclusivity, and ethical practices of a given project. Here's how the #4opens can work to assign ratings/badges to #openweb projects based on the #4opens criteria, a loose evaluation process assessing each criterion against a set of user defined criteria and assigning scores accordingly. Projects could then display these ratings/badges prominently on their websites or documentation, allowing users to quickly assess their openness and transparency. Additionally, centralized registry or directory can be created to showcase and promote projects that adhere to the #4opens principles, providing users with a trusted resource for discovering and supporting openweb initiatives.
You can add your reviews here if you like https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/4opens/issues or just post anywhere with the hashtag #4opens, so people can find your review.
The #4opens are a simple way to judge the value of an “alt/grassroots” tech project.
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Open data – is the basic part of a project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_data with out this open they cannot work.
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Open source – as in “free software” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software this keeps development healthy by increasing interconnectedness and bringing in serendipity. The Open licences are the “lock” that keep the first two in place, what we have isn’t perfect but they do expand the area of “trust” that a project needs to work, creative commons is a start here.
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Open “industrial” standards – this is a little understood but core open, it’s what the open internet and WWW are built from. Here is an outline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard
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Open process – this is the most “nebulous” part, examples of the work flow would be wikis and activity streams. Projects are built on linking trust networks so open process is the “glue” that binds the links together. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process
Solidarity
It’s easy to become a 4opens project and join the openweb family. Just show that your project fulfils 2 or more of the above "opens".
- 2 opens - Bronze badge
- 3 opens - Silver badge
- 4 opens - Gold badge